February turned me 27 (which I actually struggled with a little bit). I celebrated with a party thrown by Spencer, the Colts winning the super bowl (not that I care who plays in or wins the super bowl however), and cheese fondue. I came to grips with the fact that I could not afford my little house all by myself and that I didn't necessarily want to stay in Tampa forever, so I put my house on the terrible market. We sent one of our Rhinos to another facility and adopted one, Lucy, who quickly became my favorite Rhino! I celebrated Valentine's Day with my new sweetheart, toured a Great Ape rescue facility that we were preparing to do a fundraiser for, and went to a Stevie Nicks concert with my wonderful roomie Michelle and a Justin Timberlake concert (on Spencer) with my co-worker Sara.
March started off just right with a weekend getaway to Las Vegas which included job interviews for both Spencer and me and led to us making the big decision to not only move to Las Vegas, but also to move in TOGETHER in Las Vegas! I got to help out with our "Putt Putt For Primates" fundraiser. Spencer celebrated his 24th birthday and I was so happy that he was born that I decided he needed a week long celebration. My cousin Danya came to visit and Spencer and I began the process of packing and saying our goodbyes.
April was a busy month because we had to say lots of goodbyes and do all the things in Tampa that we hadn't done yet. Spencer and I went to a Devil Rays game and The Big Cat Sanctuary. I celebrated Easter with my Rhinos. I visited my grandparents who lived an hour from me in Florida one last time before I left. Sara and Mary Sue collaborated with Spencer to throw me a surprise going-away party and Spencer's roommates Amy, Dax, and Derek threw us a little goodbye cookout. Then we packed up our 2 separate lives, joined them together in one moving truck (and 2 cars), and together with Tank and Noelle, we spent 4 days heading west!
May brought the excitement of exploring our new home and the challenge of me adjusting to my new job and Spencer finding work in Las Vegas. We went to Red Rock Canyon and The Hoover Dam and saw The Danny Gans Show, and Spencer met a dolphin at my new place of employment. For lack of better options and a strong desire to bring home the bacon, Spencer took a job filling in at the tail end of a touring show (Clifford the Big Red Dog LIVE!), thus leaving me in Vegas alone soon after our big move. We were both sad to be apart so soon after our big move, but it was a good learning experience, it strengthened our relationship and led us to realize just how much we love each other! And I even drove all the way to Portland to surprise him while he was on tour! I also got to see what quickly became my favorite show in Las Vegas..."Love" for FREE!
June brought a new dolphin calf to The Mirage, Spencer home to me from his tour, ad my first summer in the desert...VERY HOT! A most monumental moment for me also occurred: I changed my last name back to Loutsch. This was very important to me as it was yet another sign of moving onward and helped me further re-establish my identity. Spencer and I continued to explore Las Vegas and saw Cirque du Soleil's show "Zumanity", I saw Lance Armstrong at work, and my friend Molly from ENT Surgical Consultants came to visit!
July was a month of celebrating! I celebrated with Spencer as he (finally!) got a job with Cirque du Soleil's show "Love" (my favorite!) We celebrated 4th of July at Lake Mead. We had a great time in the Steen's Mountains in Oregon camping with Spencer's friends and celebrated as his Mom's side of the family had a reunion for the first time ever in Stanley, Idaho. My friend from college Annika and her husband Lukas surprised me with a visit at work. And the sun continued to get hotter in the desert, but we also experienced our first rain since we'd moved to Las Vegas.
August was by far the hottest month reaching temperatures in the 120's! To avoid melting away, I continued to explore what Las Vegas had to offer INDOORS where the air conditioner was pumping. I got to see Jay Leno and David Spade free and Spencer and I went to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay, Tropicana, and M&M World. I got the privilege of doing calf watch at work and I had special visits from my cute cousins Michelle and Melissa and my friend John from Movies 10!
September included a trip to the Luxor with my friend Nicole for P.Diddy's VMA's After Party where I had the most celebrity spottings I've had in my life, as well as a trip home to Plainfield that included time with friends and a free Toby Keith concert, Jeff and Yvonne's wedding shower, and the unique opportunity to be a part of Matt's beautiful proposal to Kris in Chicago! We also added a new addition to our little family, Layla. At the end of the month, I got kidney stones which was very painful but I also celebrated one year of knowing Spencer which was very joyous (and not painful at all!). We saw Lance Burton's magic show and ate dinner at "The Top Of The World" at the Stratosphere.
October was jam packed with excitement as we took our big wedding trip extravaganza...one week in Illinois for Jeff and Yvonne's wedding followed by a week in Canada for Chelsea and Blaine's wedding! It may sound like family overload, but it was perfect and AWESOME to see and meet so many of our own as well as each others' family members. My very best friends growing up, Laura and Erin, and their husbands Stephen and Bryce were in town for a visit and it was so fun to spend time with them. And who's October would be complete without some pumpking carving on Halloween?!
November was a pretty laid back month. We began to realize how quickly the year had flown by and how thankful we were for all that we had experienced together. We both had to work on Thanksgiving so we had our very own Thanksgiving the day before (enough food to feed a family of 8!) the actual one which we spent together eating dinner in the alley at work for 30 minutes. Both dinners were memorable. I quickly learned that deserts are not always hot and ths one in particular turns quite cold quite quickly in the fall...but that didn't stop me from getting in the water with the dolphins!
December seems like just yesterday...ha ha. Its always my favorite month because it is full of love and giving and reflecting. Spencer and I put our tree up first thing this month so we could spend the entire month getting into the spirit of the season together. We even went to Mt. Charleston so I could willingly see snow. In keeping with tradition, we had our "own Christmas" before the actual one which we spent with Spencer's famiy in Eugene, Oregon. And the month came to a close with a visit from my Mom, Jason, and Sara to Las Vegas.
WHEW! What a year! As I tuck away my photos and memories of 2007 for safe keeping, I cling to the valuable lessons learned: one must first do what makes them happy in order to make others happy, family is EVERYTHING, home is where the heart is, sometimes you have to go through hell to accomplish your dreams, love is friendship set on fire and it is an unbreakable bond, everything happens for a reason, some people come into your life just to teach you a lesson...even if its a painful one, relationships are teamwork, and a heart with limits cannot truly love. And I look ahead to 2008 with as much excitement as one can have about the unknown; to more lessons to be learned, more adventures to be had, and big steps towards the rest of my life. Happy New Year everyone!
